The battle for L.A. supremacy took an interesting turn on Wednesday night at the Staples Center with the Los Angeles Clippers being the visiting team against the division rival Los Angeles Lakers. With the Lakers coming into this game with a three-game losing streak, Kobe Bryant and company were obviously struggling and desperately need of a win to get back on track.
Not only were the Lakers desperate for a win heading into this showdown with the crosstown rivals, but the Clippers had taken advantage of their rival’s struggles by jumping to first place in the Pacific division. That being said, this game was crucial for many reasons for the Lakeshow. Along with needing the win, Lakers forward Pau Gasol spoke up earlier in the week about wanting more touches and being more involved in the offense.
Fortunately for new head coach Mike Brown, Pau Gasol made good on his promise to step it up and become more aggressive offensively. With 23 points and 10 rebounds, Gasol really started to come on strong against the likes of Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Evans. Kobe Bryant on the other hand struggled with seven turnovers, but the Black Mamba still led the way for the Lakers in the scoring department with a team high 24 points.
The one real bright spot for the Lakers in this game against the Clippers was the bench play. Rookie Andrew Goudelock showed just how well he can play with extended minutes (20 mins) on the floor as he scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting (2-for-3 from 3-point land). Metta World Peace also got his team fired up with some passionate play on defense all game long.
As for the Clippers, Chris Paul finally returned from the nagging hamstring injury, but struggled offensively with just four points. Paul did dish out a game-high 12 assists though, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get the best of the Lakers on Wednesday night, 96-91.
Related News
- Are the Lakers looking to land a big-name point guard?
- Is Pau Gasol still on the trading block in Los Angeles?
- Lakers beat Celtics in game seven to win second straight NBA title
- Los Angeles Lakers stay red-hot with seventh straight win
- NBA Playoffs: Los Angeles Lakers huge favorites over New Orleans Hornets by online sportsbooks
Leave a Reply
- Are the San Francisco 49ers in the hunt for Peyton Manning?
- Peyton Manning and Indianapolis Colts agree to part ways
- Randy Moss puts on a show for the New Orleans Saints
- As the NBA trade deadline nears could the Blazers Jamal Crawford be on the trading block?
- Buffalo Bills sign Stevie Johnson to five-year contract extension
- Houston Texans re-sign Pro Bowler Arian Foster to five-year $43.5 million deal
- Drew Brees and New Orleans Saints still far apart on new contract
- Celtics head coach Doc Rivers believes Rajon Rondo won’t be traded
- DeSean Jackson gets franchise tag from the Philadelphia Eagles
- Lamar Odom will head to the NBA Development League for one game
- Devonte: Celtics trade Pietrus,Bradley,Johnson,Wilcox , & 1st round pick to Portland for M.Camby and J.Crawford....
- frank: please bring manning and thetop running back in the draft maybe abig time left tackel and all jet fans will...
- Alexis: theres no way that rondo can get traded we need him the rest of the season AND IM GOING TO THE CELTICS GAME...
- And1: Damn the Suns if they do trade Nash. Retire Nash as a Sun, resign him next year, and spend money in getting...
- CLNS_Nick: Great read. Very interesting. Do you have any link/sources to Bird’s quotes?
- sid: OKC is overrated they are still the same exact team that only won one game last year in the playoffs against the...
- baltimore 34-32: Baltimore will carve them up no problem winning here
- Ravens Fan: YES They can!